Hiding The Truth

Same Song, Different Verse

Buoyed by the events of the night before, Lila hummed her way through the church day. Nita insisted they make their appearances, and in the lull of routine, Lila found it was hard to be worried about the future, hard to be anything but optimistic. If the Organization really was fighting Nazis, there was nothing to worry about anyway. And if They were as bad as Cam thought, she could tell him all about it and he would... what? She didn't know, exactly, but he would help her, with his Druids and his magic energy. Her mind wandered a little during the sermon thinking of his comments about "false religion," but shrugged them off. Her Pastor had never said anything about Talents. Everything that had happened seemed a little like a dream, like a story maybe. She was seeing the whole thing as an adventure, but at the same time, adventures happened to important people, didn't they? She didn't know if that made her an important person, finally, or if it made the adventure less real because who she really was wasn't very important at all by most of the world's standards. Not yet, anyway.

When the little family arrived home, Cam was waiting on the doorstep in his Sunday best bearing a bouquet of chrysanthemums in cheery colors. "Just a way to thank you for a lovely time last night," he said. "I was hoping you would take a little walk with me."

"Why, thank you," Lila said, more than a little surprised. Perhaps it wasn't a dream after all. He was standing at her front door. That was pretty real. "I'd like that."

"I'll get those in some water," Nita hustled Junior to the kitchen to get a vase, relieving Lila of the flowers almost as soon as she'd accepted them.

Lila would have liked to change her shoes, but it didn't seem worth the delay. Campbell Stuart was courting her! That certainly seemed to be the case, anyhow. Going out with him twice in two days, being seen in public together... it definitely gave a certain impression.

Together, they walked out of the trailer court entrance and down the sidewalk into the neighborhood beyond.

"Did you think any more about what I told you last night?" Cam asked.

"I did. I can't take Junior to Sunshine and go on the dole," she said, disappointed. She was half-hoping for something else. Something more. Something about their kiss. Did he think she was common? That kissing on a first date was normal for her? No. Surely not. He had been on her porch before she had even arrived home from church. That had to mean something. Whatever it was she felt between them, she knew he had to feel it too. Maybe he didn't want her to join the Organization because he wanted her to stay in Progress City and date him? She wouldn't have wanted to do it, of course, she told herself. The Organization would give her her own salary independent of a man or her mother, and a very good one, much more than the diner. She wasn't sure how much journalists made, but the look of that uppity woman on Doug's arm the night before certainly demonstrated how well she could live if she went ahead with her plan and took the train to Shadow Holler.

"Perhaps not. Something strange is going on with Cuba right now. I don't have all the details yet, but Sunshine might not be the best choice if tensions between Castro and Kennedy heat up." He warned.

"Oh?"

"The new Cuban leader is in cahoots with the Russkis. Cuba is ninety miles off the southernmost border of Sunshine. With the Russkis stockpiling nuclear bombs..." he trailed off.

"Nazis on American soil." She was chilled to the bone.

"Not Nazis, Lila, Communists. They're hardly the same thing." He corrected.

"I'm not too sure about that. The Russkis have invaded half of Eastern Europe since the Second Great War to build their Russki Commonwealth. If there's a threat to Columbia, it's clear I should join the Organization right away and do my part."

"Did I not get through to you last night, Lila?"

"I heard what you said, but you don't have any proof." She pointed out.

"Didn't you feel the truth when I spoke it? Isn't your Discernment enough proof?"

"I don't know, Cam!" She was so frustrated she stamped her foot. "I've been told since I was eight years old that using my Talents was dangerous and foolish, and I was doing just fine following that advice until you came along with your energy balls and Druid-talk."

He sighed heavily. "I suppose it would be hard to unlearn a lifetime of teaching against your gifts. But it's more dangerous, and more foolish, to ignore them. If you can't listen to your Talents, I wish you would listen to me."

"I thought you said I could be your 'woman on the inside.'" She argued.

"That was before I knew the Russkis might be gearing up to drop a bomb!" He rallied. "Listen,  I might be going to Sunshine myself to report on the tensions and whatever else may come up while I'm there. I'll try to make contacts and set up a place for you and Junior to go. The problem is, it probably won't happen until right around the time you're scheduled to leave."

"That's perfect, though," she brightened. "If the Organization is what you say, I can always leave and go to Sunshine when I find out. Or spy for you. If you're wrong, I haven't lost the opportunity."

He shook his head, "And if the Russkis obliterate Sunshine with a nuclear missile?"

She spread her fingers dismissively. "Then Limestone is further from Cuba than Progress City."